Third Time’s The Charm
Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2016 and wound up in a virtual tie with Hillary Clinton in the Iowa Caucuses.
Four years later, in 2020, he wound up in a virtual tie with Pete Buttigieg in those same Iowa Caucuses.
Is it any wonder that Sanders is making noise about running for president a third time?
There will still be an Iowa Caucus, held before any other event…whether anyone pays attention given the Democratic National Committee’s so-called official schedule remains to be seen.
But given President Joe Biden’s tack to the middle recently…progressives are feeling left out and know that Sanders’ two previous runs helped get them a seat at the table…so why not again?
Biden went along with a bill to remove looser criminal penalties in the District of Columbia. His administration also has given the green light to oil drilling in Alaska. And he’s thinking about reinstating family detention to deter migration along the southern border.
The political calculation, of course, is that if Biden is more centrist now, he’ll be more appealing to independents in 2024…and the progressives will just have to hold their noses and vote for him, because where else are they going to go? He can give them assurance that he’s still on their side, but has to get re-elected to really do them good in the future.
The problem with that plan is that progressives are not happy right now, and Sanders won’t rule out running for president himself. He says he supports Biden, but that is glad Marianne Williamson is in the race because “she’s going to run a strong campaign and raise very important issues.”
But that desire for the top job, the attention you get for running…we have seen time and time again how hard that is for normally rational people to resist. And Sanders can run for president without adversely affecting his own Senate re-election effort…his state doesn’t require declarations of candidacy until August, plenty of time to see how a third presidential run would play out.
So…will Democrats “feel the Bern” again soon?
